Another major highway in metro Atlanta has been closed, this one because an underground gas leak caused the fast lane to buckle. DeKalb County officials say the pavement on Interstate 20 buckled in the HOV lane Monday morning. (April 17)
AP

A portion of Interstate 20 buckled because of underground gas work in Atlanta.(Photo: Eric Stirgus, Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Another major highway through Atlanta was partially shut down on Monday, this one because the pavement rose up and broke apart in an area where underground utility work was being done.

A motorcyclist hit the rising pavement in the carpool lane of Interstate 20, went airborne and was critically injured. Pieces of pavement rose to nearly the height of a full-grown man as the road buckled.

Witnesses said other motorists rushed to the motorcyclist's aid. DeKalb County spokesman Andrew Cauthen said he was hospitalized with multiple fractures.

The buckling was caused by a utility crew using machinery to bore a new natural gas pipeline under the highway, authorities said.

"Work was being performed in the area on behalf of Atlanta Gas Light," company spokeswoman Melissa Clontz said. "This incident was not caused by and did not involve the release of natural gas."

County spokeswoman Sarah Page said all westbound lanes were closed until further notice several miles southeast of downtown Atlanta. Westbound traffic is being diverted at Interstate 285, the city's perimeter highway.

This latest infrastructure problem will only snarl more traffic in the congested city, adding east-west complications to commutes already complicated by the collapse of an overpass on Interstate 85, a key north-south artery, due to a fire that police say was intentionally set.

CLOSE

Two men and one woman have been arrested in connection with a massive fire that could leave traffic in Atlanta snarled for months. Basil Eleby, the man believed to have intentionally started a blaze that caused an overpass on Interstate 85 to collapse, was booked on suspicion of first-degree criminal damages to property, which could get him up to 10 years in prison.
USA TODAY